If you really want answers about Christianity I suggest you get a Bible and ,for starters, read "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. You can find it in any good book store. And, you have to pretend to believe it at first, too!

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Anyone remember how they felt the day after Rich Mullins died?

[This message was edited by bryce on April 14, 1999.]
 

Questions are needed to understand things(as long as they're valid).

There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.

I think that this discussion, and that's all it has been, is a very healthy one. It's helped me understand a lot more of myself than before.

I for one think it should continue, as long as its civilized, which it has remained.

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Jeff Raven - Having more fun than any human being should be allowed to have
 

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Anyone remember how they felt the day after Rich Mullins died?

In my experience, when questions get harder it usually means that the truth being sought has some deeper meaning. It's seldom an occasion for abandoning the quest.

After all, the ability to ask questions is the greatest one we humans have.

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"And though I once prefered a human being's company, they pale before the monolith that towers over me."
--
They Might Be Giants

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I drink therefore I am.

-Descartes

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There are people who one loves immediatly and forever. Just to know that you exist in the same world together is sufficient. Till I loved, I never lived - enough.
 

Jubes, you want to start a Wicca thread, go ahead. Wicca's fascinating, and at worst, it's no sillier than any other religion. In fact, I may start a thread on Deism.

Truthfully, its not having these answers to my questions that drove me away from Christianity in the first place. I won't go back until SOMEONE can answer them to my satisfaction, without it resulting in a torrent of other questions.

Bryce said "our intelligent, researched answers sound stupid to evryone who is not a Christian."
Probably the problem is due to the fact that you're using only one source for everything. Of course, it's nearly impossible to convincingly explain a faith-based system to a person who doesn't possess that attribute. It may be entirely impossible.

I'm rambling, I know.

But, if your questions aren't completely answered, that certainly doesn't mean you should stop asking them. Rather to the contrary.

And since I've already read the Bible and C.S. Lewis, and found the answers therein unsatisfactory (or I wouldn't be asking so many now), that only leaves me with asking other people. You see, I can pretend many things, but "pretending I believe" is beyond even my vast capabilities.

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*I only SEEM Normal*

 

I think part of the problem stems from the following assumptions:

1. Some folks assume that a statement of belief carries the implication that if YOU don't believe the same, you're an idiot.

   I hope I haven't given that impression in any of my replies. I try to give an honest answer. I am tolerant of "stupid questions" because I'm rather fond of asking them.

2. Some questions appear to be worded in such a way that failure to respond immediately implies that the logic of the person questioned is flawed. Whether that is the intent of the questioner is not at issue.

   Sometimes an innocent question will be interpreted as a hostile response no matter the original intent.

3. Some people believe that repeating what they just said constitutes a logical proof. If others do not agree with your position, it does not necessarily mean they think you're an idiot.

4. Calling someone a fool does not make them hit themselves in the head and say "Hey! He's right! What was I thinking?"

5. Saying that only an idiot would believe [insert viewpoint or belief here] does not prove that particular belief or world view wrong.

If you feel you must always be right, you are not seeking truth, you are seeking power.

In conclusion, if someone believes something which you believe to be patently false, at least four possibilities may be true:

1. You are right. He is wrong.

2. You are wrong. He is right.

3. You are both wrong.

4. You are both right, but can't see how.

--Baloo

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Warning:
There has been an alarming increase in the
number of things you know nothing about.
 

He IS right though. And I'm...(oh shut up)

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'My rigid grill structure...'
-Dinobot